IN yet another manifestation of strong bonds of friendship and brotherhood, China has provided a batch of five hundred thousand doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Pakistan to fight Covid-19. Pakistan has become the first country in the world to have received the Covid-19 vaccine from China as a gift. This really shows the depth of partnership between the two iron brothers and the people of Pakistan are really proud of its relationship with Beijing.
With this also, visionary Chinese President Xi Jinping has also honoured the commitment that the Covid-19 vaccine when developed will be made a global public good. Other major countries also need to follow the suit and help the developing and poor countries to inoculate their peoples. In fact, ever since the outbreak of pandemic, China has extended all out support to Pakistan in the form of sending medical teams and equipment. This really helped us to check the spread of the virus. It is also a matter of satisfaction that both the countries are also deepening their cooperation in vaccine related matters. Recently phase-111 clinical trials of Chinese vaccine CanSino has also successfully concluded in Pakistan. The local manufacturing of the vaccine will definitely go a long way in catering to the whole population. However, at present, in addition to the doses from China, Pakistan has also secured supply of 17 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX, a global initiative by the Gavi vaccine alliance, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The government must strictly follow the criterion laid down for the vaccination and the front line health workers must be administered the vaccine in the first place and then it must reach the elderly and those suffering from some serious ailment(s). No resource constraint should be allowed in the procurement of the vaccine and it should be done in a timely manner so that the entire population could be inoculated during the current fiscal year. Any complacency will prove to be disastrous for the whole country. National Command and Control Centre has so far done an excellent work by taking timely decisions and it must continue to show the same spirit in future as well to control the pandemic. Responsibility also rests with the people to continue to comply with the safety guidelines for their own safety as well as those of others.
